Agents Close Illicit Drug Lab Found In Shed Factory One Of The Largest In Southeast, Authorities Say

May 26, 1989|By RENEE KRAUSE and TOM LASSITER, Staff Writers

A multimillion-dollar drug laboratory, which authorities said was one of the biggest in the Southeast, was discovered in a 12-by-20-foot shed behind a home north of Pompano Beach late on Wednesday.

Hidden within the windowless wooden building in the 4300 block of Northeast 11th Terrace were enough chemicals and equipment to produce $1.2 million worth of methamphetamine, methaqualone and synthetic cocaine, officials said on Thursday.

``It was like an illicit drug laboratory supermarket,`` said John Fernandes, spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Miami. ``It`s particularly significant because of the combination of illicit drugs they were making, and they could make it in quantity at will.``

The lab also posed a hazard for the neighborhood, Fernandes said.

``You had a combination of solvents, acetone and ether, that either independently or together ... could have exploded, leveling a city block, and would have taken some of the residents with it,`` he said.

Dr. James Spencer Lipton, 42, who worked as a general practitioner in Boca Raton and Deerfield Beach until four months ago, was charged as one of the four principals in the drug lab, Fernandes said.

Lipton, a former surgeon who said he has a $500,000 trust fund, and his live- in girlfriend, Diane C. MacClary, 25, were arrested on Wednesday at their home in the 3800 block of West Hillsboro Boulevard in Coconut Creek.

Another suspect, Paula McNaboe, 26, was arrested at the home in front of the drug lab shed late on Wednesday when DEA agents searched both buildings, records show.

Agents on Thursday were still looking for Robert William ``Butch`` Hyde, 27, who ran the lab behind his home, Fernandes said.

One sample of the methamphetamine, also known as speed, tested 99 percent pure, said Lou Pharao, a supervisor with the DEA`s Fort Lauderdale office. The drugs were being distributed throughout Florida and possibly other states, agents said.

The investigation began in January when DEA agents and Oakland Park police began working with a confidential informant, said an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court by DEA Agent James M. Hoy.

Twice in March, the informant received prescriptions for Percodan, a potent painkiller, from Lipton at the doctor`s home, the affidavit said, and on April 5, the informant said he bought one-half ounce of cocaine at the doctor`s home.

Then, in April, Lipton told the informant that he knew someone who was manufacturing methaqualone and methamphetamine and could provide the drugs to him, the affidavit said.

``Lipton stated that it would take a few days to obtain a sample, that his source stood to make $4 million off the manufacture of these substances. Lipton also stated that he had invested $4,000 in the operation,`` Hoy`s affidavit said.

Neighbor Bob Weir said Hyde built the shed about six years when he had his own home improvement business.

``He said he was building a laundry room and a gymnasium in there,`` Hyde said.

A secret door inside the shed hid a 4-foot-wide room where much of the manufacturing was done, Pharao said. Inside was $30,000 to $40,000 worth of chemical bottles, test tubes and cookers, Pharao estimated.

``This is an unusually big and very sophisticated laboratory for Broward County. It`s one of the biggest we`ve found in the Southeast,`` Pharao said.

Inside the house, agents found a book entitled Secrets of Methamphetamines and a notebook containing chemistry recipes. Four weapons, including a machine gun, were inside the house, Hoy`s affidavit said.

Neighbors said they saw processions of cars coming and going from Hyde`s home at night. Usually the cars would stay for minutes, then leave, they said.

``There was traffic ... continually all night. They were offloading things in the middle of the night,`` neighbor Betty Nicholson said. Several times she smelled ether, she said.

On Thursday, Lipton, MacClary and McNaboe appeared before U.S. Magistrate Lurana Snow. All three were charged with conspiring to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine and methaqualone and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine. All were still in custody on Thursday.